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Grant will perform with his trio Hat Trick on Saturday at Riverwalk Amphitheater

“Sometimes, you’re just background, you know? And that pays. And sometimes it’s a performance and you get paid attention to,” said Scott Grant. “I’m just trying to be whatever the job calls for.”

When you think of Grant’s music, odds are his solo acoustic shows come to mind, or one of his gigs as a member of the band SABADAS.

But Grant’s been finding some magic lately as a member of the blues, funk R&B trio Hat Trick, with Bart Morgan on drums and Sam Rowland on bass.

“It’s a typical power trio,” Grant said.

Hat Trick took third place at this year’s Rock the Park battle of the bands in July, and will return to the Riverwalk Amphitheater stage Saturday for the Riverfront Festival. They’re up after Luna Cycle from Enterprise.

The group has a lot of experience together, especially since they’re all members SABADAS, which has frontman Sam Williams.

“I want to give my recognition and respect to Sam Williams,” Grant said. “Meeting him and working with him for the last five plus years has been the most significant thing to me musically. He’s a world class pro, and has played with some of the biggest names in the business. He’s helped me find myself. I give him a lot of credit, and I think he deserves any attention that he gets. He’s fantastic.”

Grant has found a routine that works for him musically.

“Most of my gigs are solo acoustic,” he said. “ For the last few years, I’ve played at the Mariott on Sundays. I do the jazz club (1048 Jazz & Blues) on Mondays. I’ve been doing that for five years. I pick up gigs where I can during the week.”

Grant’s got two albums out of all-original material out now: Gemini in 2012 and Simpatico came out in 2015. There’s another one on the way, but he likes to take his time making them.

“I’m working on my next one. It got kind of held up because it costs, you know,” Grant said. “Unexpected things happen and you’ve got to take care of them. I’ll get it out. This one is going to be called Game On. I hope to get at least started on it this year.”

For his acoustic solo acts, Grant has different shows she can tailor for different audiences, and that includes a variety of covers.

“If I was only doing what I wanted to do, I would be doing my own stuff,” Grant said. “But if you’re career minded as I am, you sort of have to become what people want and find a happy medium with that. I’ve got my lounge set, which is all old standards and stuff. ‘Fly Me to The Moon,’ and things like that. I’ve got my beach and bar set, which is more Jimmy Buffett and drinking type music.”

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Montgomery Musician Scott Grant performs his original song "La Verdad" from his Simpatico album on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, at Adrienne's Downtown Bar in Prattville.

He’s got a strategy for working in his original songs for audiences.

“If you tell them ahead of time, ‘Hey, this is something you’ve never heard,’ the reception ends right there. It’s like, ‘I don’t want to hear it, then,’” Grant said. “But you can just float it out there. A lot of my stuff sounds kind of like something you’ve heard before. It’s all been done, especially if you play blues. You’re not reinventing the wheel. You’re just continuing the same thing. I don’t mind that. I like tradition. I like keeping things that we like going.”